Trina Perry picked up a piece of chalk and spelled out two goals on the chalkboard wall that stands outside Burnside Park.Perry, 40, of Providence, wrote that before she dies, she wants to “get married”...

Edward Fitzpatrick Journal Columnist fitzprov

Trina Perry picked up a piece of chalk and spelled out two goals on the chalkboard wall that stands outside Burnside Park.

Perry, 40, of Providence, wrote that before she dies, she wants to “get married” and “do missionary work in Africa.”

A few seconds later, a man grabbed the chalk and scrawled out a very different dream: “Piss off the whole planet one person at a time.” (Hey now — we all know a few people who seem to share that goal.)

But before they returned to chalk dust on Monday, those back-to-back bucket-list items demonstrated what a wide range of aspirations come to mind when Rhode Islanders ponder their own mortality.

The “Before I Die” project began in New Orleans in 2011 when artist Candy Chang painted the side of an abandoned house with the words “Before I die I want to …” And last week, two “Before I Die” chalkboards appeared in Providence — at Burnside Park, near Kennedy Plaza, and Grant’s Block, off Westminster Street.

Providence Mayor Angel Taveras joined city planners, the Providence Redevelopment Agency and community groups in unveiling the chalkboards as part of a three-year program called “PopUp Providence,” which aims to enliven neighborhoods and engage people with interactive artistic and cultural projects.

So I wondered what would pop up if I asked the expected 2014 candidates for governor what they want do before they die (besides becoming governor).

Taveras, a Democrat who is running for governor, has already picked up the chalk, writing that before he dies he wants to “see my daughter grow up and be a successful woman.”

General Treasurer Gina M. Raimondo, a Democrat who is expected to run for governor, said that before she dies she wants to “be an amazing grandmother, like my mom is to my kids.”

Cranston Mayor Allan W. Fung, a Republican who is running for governor, said that before he dies he wants to “walk in my parents’ footsteps and go back to southern China, where they were born, and to Hong Kong, where they went as teenagers, to retrace their steps, see where they came from, what makes them what they are, and where they got the values that they instilled in me.”

Ken Block, the Moderate Party founder who recently joined the Republican Party and is running for governor, said that before he dies he wants “to be able to slam dunk.” (For the record, Block is 5 feet 5½inches tall, without shoes on.)

Potential Democratic candidate Clay Pell — grandson of the late U.S. Sen. Claiborne Pell and husband of Olympic figure skater Michelle Kwan — said that before he dies, he wants to “land a triple Axel — Michelle and I are working on that. But on a serious note, I’d like to see Rhode Island’s unemployment rate be the lowest in the nation.” (For the record, the 9.2-percent unemployment rate is now the second-highest in the nation.)

Democratic candidate Todd J. Giroux said that before he dies he wants to “work every day toward a balanced America where all people have a fair and equitable freedom to housing, resources and opportunity.”

State Republican Party Chairman Mark Smiley said that before he dies he wants to “attend a celebration of the inauguration of a Republican speaker of the House.”

Finally, when asked what he wants to do before he dies, state Democratic Party Chairman David A. Caprio responded with some “Match Game” references, saying, “I’ll be happy to answer that question — but only if Gene Rayburn asks it and I’m sitting next to Charles Nelson Reilly.”